Very pleasant commute today. First day in a few days without rain, temps in the low '60's. I'll take it!

I sent my kids off to school on their bikes. The ground was damp, not running wet and the weather was misty, not raining. They all went without any complaint. I was proud of them. One of them refused to change into pants and another insisted on wearing Crocs but I'll take my wins where I can get them.

My own ride was fine. I am not sure whether I've taken my heart pills today. I was feeling it on the way in but normally do. I don't want to double up, that would be a worse mistake than going without.

Crazy North wind on the way home with gusts up to 25 mph and more. I live about 5 and 1/2 mi East of the office and 2 miles north. Had I taken the south route that I took in this morning I would have ridden at least 4 miles North into the wind. And if I took the trail to trail route I would have ridden 4 miles North as well. So I picked a more direct route which begins with the 2 mile trek North and then mostly East. The wind would swing from east to west, sometimes impeding me, and sometimes giving me an extra boost. But all in all, I averaged 9.1 mph as opposed to the 13 mph this morning. Thank goodness the 20-in boardwalk folder has bull bars which have me in a road bike stance to help cut through the wind.

Still fun and still better than driving!

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2226:

Some days I just don't have it in me. Today was one of those days.

My normal Tuesday commute is 8 miles to our office, then after a lunch meeting I'll ride about 10 miles to a client, then at the end of the day ride 4 miles home. I set my alarm to get up at 5:30 AM with the intention of having a normal Tuesday.

When the alarm went off, I felt unusually tired. Then when I came out of the bedroom I saw the thermometer read 44°F, and rain was falling. Also, a steady headwind was going to be pushing against me on the way to our office.

I got all my gear on, then walked out into the garage. I opened the side door to the garage like I normally do, but instead of then going to grab my bike and wheel it outside, I walked out into the driveway to assess the situation. It felt cold. It was dark. A light rain was falling.

My mind said, "Nope" and I turned around, shut the door and went back inside the house. I took off my helmet, headband and gloves, but left the rest of my gear on including my bike shoes. Then I went and sat down in my chair, pulled a blanket over me and promptly fell asleep for an hour and a half.

I woke up at 8:30. I was supposed to be at the office by 8:00 (usually I arrive by at least 7:15). I reasoned that for all the mornings I show up early, they will just have to deal with me being a little late today. I put my headband, gloves and helmet back on and went back into the garage. This time I was successful in actually getting the bicycle out the door.

The rain had stopped falling, but the roads were still wet. I was on the road bike without any fenders to protect me from the spray. Once I started riding I felt pretty chilly. I decided to shorten my commute today and just ride directly to the client and back home. I attended my lunch meeting via video. The good news is the nap must have done the trick as I haven't felt overly tired today.

I feel like autumn milestones are coming a week or two late this year. I haven’t actually checked and I’m not going to, but anyway, the buckeyes are falling. These things are poisonous. Not even the squirrels want them. Even then I don’t even think they work because if they did, the buckeye trees would be surrounded by more buckeye trees, wouldn’t they? But they’re all alone and not spreading.



It’s too bad I’m colorblind, or I’d be able to see this red blaze

I almost passed on riding yesterday. Monday's ride home against the wind was a little tough and yesterday was also supposed to be windy. But I decided to be tough. However the wind never materialized and it was pleasant, sunny riding both ways...27F in the morning and 48F on the way home.

I had inadvertently left my black poly bike pants at the office Monday, so I threw on a pair of tight-fitting black cotton pajama bottoms...they were almost too warm. I kept thinking that they'd be miserable if they got wet or damp through perspiration or weather. My polyester bike pants are just snug workout pants with some sort of hidden venting up the sides. They are somewhat water repellent and will eventually become soaked, but they dry fairly quickly.

It was a day full of stairs and extended outdoor walking at work, so I took it easy uphill on the way home for a 9.1 mph average speed, identical to windy Monday's, but I arrived home fresh-ish and not exhausted.

I drove today.

I did my first two consecutive 5-day commute weeks in years the last two weeks and my legs were tired last night, and again this morning. My wife said I was snoring all night and I'm not feeling rested. I have a video shoot today with lots of equipment to carry and I have to be up north after work for Improv practice, so I'm using all these things as my excuse.

I'm sure I will regret it when I am stuck in stop-and-go traffic on the highway after work.

Jeez! I'm glad you survived to write about it.

I rode today but I guess it didn't make much impression on me because I already can't remember anything about it

For months and until yesterday, almost every aspect of my everyday/one-day-ride/commuting bike had been at least a bit off, skewed, loose, dangling, rattling or a little bit imprecise. The bike worked fine overall, tomorrow it should reach the 3000km to work and back in 2025 mark, but it was... just clunky a bit and in almost every aspect. Then, on Monday, I took a day off and fixed, straightened, replaced and tightened everything that needed it, and yesterday and today I was in heaven. It feels like getting that old, extremely comfortable pair of shoes a facelift that made them many years younger.
Tomorrow should be a beautiful autumn day and I can't wait.

No ride today, 8am Central meeting is 6am for me here in California's elbow. Usually I do meetings this early from home. Since this is a major one and I'm presenting right around 7, it's not one I could do from home while the kids get up. I didn't have enough done in the house to leave at 5:30 on the bike so left at 5:47 in the truck and made it on time.

At my office we used to have a coffee maker and a drawer of filters and grounds. Finish the pot, make another, til about afternoon break time, then an office manager would do the dishes. During peak covid, though, my employer took out all the coffee makers and replaced them with k-cup machines. And our area was not stocked with cups. We had to get them either from the offices along the wall populated by directors, or from the other coffee mess on the other end of the building.

But recently the cubes were consolidated again. Now we have Karen B. Karen comes in and makes eight vacuum insulated pots of six flavors of Peets every morning and sets them up on yellow drip mats and puts all the grounds in a bin for compost, and does all these dishes on the dot at 3. And it seems like she is always there. If you make a replacement pot she appears to critique it. When she's out for a day she'll hang out in there all day and tell all the regular coffee drinkers how they should do it while she's gone. I am trying not to be irritated by the mania, because we benefit so greatly from it. This has been going on for three or four months. I walked in about 830 one day a month ago and she was there - with nothing obvious to do, but she said "Did YOU make the first pot of coffee this morning?"
"no"
"Well WHOEVER it was did a good job, but didn't put the grounds in the bin."

Perhaps to head off any more sinners, today she was in there making coffee at 5:57am.

Yesterday, I took the Vektron S10 folding eBike, saving my legs for the last weeknight club ride of the year. What a great bike this is; can do a bit of everything. Since it is Class 1, it's not QUITE a "Do-everything" bike, but it's close! 15 lbs. lighter than my Aventon Level.2. This is stupid, but the only reason I don't ride it a LOT more is that I don't get credit for Strava Local Legends if I ride an eBike.

Today, I took the ZiZZO Forte folder again. My legs are sore from doing club rides three days in a row and going pretty hard each of them, but I don't have to baby them too much, as I won't be doing any serious riding tonight or tomorrow. I'll add another 6 miles at lunch to go get a coffee grinder at the local grocery/superstore. I just bought my first bag of whole bean coffee at Costco yesterday night. I hand-ground the beans in a mortar and pestle this morning, but since the grind was coarser, I didn't use enough and it was watery. I still have high hopes, as I have 2.95 lbs. left to go, hehehe. I may try the coarse grind again and french press to see how that is...

BobbyG You told us how beautiful that one scene was, but didn't share the pic. Tsk-tsk-tsk.
You also talked a lot about roads local to you, as if we're following along in our heads.
The Google Satellite Views are sometimes outdated. I just checked it on my local area, and some of the images have updated since I last checked a couple weeks ago. Two weeks ago, it showed construction that has been finished for several months.
I like your Boardwalk. I had a similar Dahon years ago, The Speed D7. I think it's the same as the 7-speed Boardwalk, but with an Al frame instead of 4130 chromoly.
I think your 16-incher has that Small Bike Handling not only from the smaller wheels, but also it seems to have a really short wheelbase, and not much rake in the steering as well.

After the discussion about steering axis earlier this year I'm convinced Bobby's Getaway is a nice name for a tiki bar deathtrap with nearly zero or even negative trail. I'd be interested to know if it's possible to ride no-hands but would not suggest anyone try it ever.

It's definitely possible to ride a vehicle with zero trail. Scooters like the ones they use in skate parks are an example that comes to mind

I am terrible at riding no-handed...even though I used to do it all the time as a kid. That's why it was such a surprise when I was able to ride the 16" folder no handed when I first got it. However, after tightening up the steering mast and brace, the steering doesn't move as freely as it used to. It actually seems to calm some twitchyness, but it makes riding no handed an even bigger no-no for me.

It was gusty this morning so I took the big, heavy RockHopper. I decided to ride the trail to trail route and climbed the steep hill that stands between my house and the trail. I got to the top and found I was unable to cross the road due to roadwork. In fact, there was no getting across at any of the intersections between the two major streets, so I turned back and took some surface streets to work.

I ended up working an hour late so it was falling dark as I left and completely dark by the time I was half-way home. I had my headlamp and lights so I guess I got an early taste of my evening commutes for the next 5 months starting this coming Monday.

Yeah, I know. I was trying to figure out how to condense everything and make it relatable...but I gave up.

It's all right bro, we appreciate the effort. Almost feels like we're having coffee sitting & talking about it.

It's getting brisk in the mornings now, I'll have to start wearing long fingered gloves next week. Otherwise, it was a very pleasant ride into work. Fingers did get cold but the cool air meant I wasn't sweaty at all when I arrived.
Today marked 3 out of 5 days I commuted by bike to work, it's nice when I can ride more in a week than I drive.

Wednesdays are rough for me because I don’t get home Tuesday night until 10 or 10:30 at night. So Wednesday I decided to rest and take the subway. Thursday’s weather forecast called for very rainy weather. I probably would have been fine, but there was a chance that things went badly. It turned out to be a record rainfall, something like 2 or 3 inches in a day. One of those inches fell in an hour. I got lucky. I stayed late and by the time I left, the rain was very light. Some places got very flooded, and subway lines were suspended. But none of it affected me. Then Friday I also didn’t ride because I went from work to the bus terminal to get on the bus that takes me upstate. So no riding for three days in a row. Ah well. I think I ought to store a spare set of clothes at work as I did years ago. That way, if I arrive soaked, I’ll be OK.

Pleasant ride to work, about 27F. Nailed the clothing just right.

The used Microshift 8 integrated shifters I installed on my 2015 Charge Plug are starting to become unreliable in the cold, same as the Shimanos on my Felt.

Yesterday was the most physically taxing day I've had in quite a while with two elaborate video shoots involving loading, unloading and carrying most of our lights and stands to two different 4th floor locations. I used the elevators for the big loads, but we had a time crunch and it was faster to run up and down the stairs with the little stuff. My nearby printer is still out, so I still have to take a full flight of stairs to retrieve my print-outs at the office (no elevator in the building).

I took the longer trail-to-trail route home to avoid steep hills and traffic. The first 5 miles were quick and easy and then my legs said "enough!" and the last three miles dragged. I kept checking to see if there was any rubbing with the tires, or head wind or incline, but it was just my legs...I had enough cardio, but not a lot of strength.

My legs didn't hurt until I got into bed when they and my arms started to smart a little.

But this morning I feel fine.

I decided to take the Vektron this morning, after seeing the wind forecast. (16 mph) The ride to work is half downhill and that downhill had a tailwind today, so that was nice. Crosswind on the flat part. Going home, I'll engage the warp drive to avoid being sweaty or going 5 mph uphill and into the wind the whole way back.

After lunch, I'm also going to meet my wife at the local clinic where she has her annual physical. From there, I'll fold up the Vektron and put it in the trunk of her car and we'll drive from there together up to the big city to get the ortho surgeon's interpretation of the CT scan and contrast MRI of her hip, and hopefully get a plan going to either get her surgery or a special bone marrow injection so she can walk unassisted again.

43F and grey. It's like the 'real' commuting season now. Don't need to pack for contingencies anymore (rain, cold) it's all there when I walk out the door, for the foreseeable.

Really nice sunrise on Friday.

Time change means sunset at 6 is now at 5. Charge those lights!

Hah! And please don't engage any "cloaking device".

Hoping for the best possible outcome for her.[/QUOTE]

Sunday I cleaned and lubed the Charge Plug drive train and squirted more lube into the 'brifters'. This morning it was just above freezing. The right (rear) shifter got stuck once in high gear. After jiggleing the shifter a few times it finally caught and behaved the rest of the ride in to work and the ride home.

I wanted to take the trail to trail again and started up the hill to the trail, but a quarter of the way up I say the flashing lights of the construction trucks. A few more yards revealed the tops of the traffic barricades blocking the way, same as Friday.

The bike pedaled a little easier and rolled a even better. I had also pumped the tires up past their 75psi Max to 85psi, same as the previous tires. On the repair stand the Plug's tires spin a crazy long time so I was curious to see what inflating these tires would do for ride-ability.

I took the trail to trail on the way home again since I can take it a little further to a major crossing by the housethat I knew was still open. It's an even steeper hill on the way to the trail, but I may take it tomorrow just to do it.

It fell dark halfway home. While I'm lit up in all directions, reflective and have a strong headlamp, there were so many cyclists and pedestrians and dog walkers without any lights or reflective wear or devices, although a few did. I rang my bell to alert walkers, but a couple of times I had to toot my horn as well, but by then I was getting close and the second time I scared a woman (not my intention) so I stopped and apologized. She said she didn't hear the bell, but despite being startled, she said she appreciated me wanting to warn her. I still felt bad. I think tomorrow I will forgo the bell and just hit the horn from a greater distance. That seems to work pretty well.

As I approached the blind chicane narrow underpass where the one homeless guy likes to lay on the path I honked the horn on the approach. Just then a super bright headlight exploded from around the chicane at high-speed on an e-bike. The underpass is now striped down the middle and I proceeded and encountered the homeless guy standing with his bedroll and wheelchair blocking the opposite lane where the e-bike would have been. But he would have had to swing into "my lane". Had we entered the underpass at the same time there would have been trouble. On the way out I honked again to alert any more oncoming traffic, but I waited until I was even with this guy, and then because I have heard him speaking Spanish in the past I yelled "No aqui!". He let loose an F-bomb, so I guess he also speaks English. After 8 months of interventions by various support and law enforcement groups to stop this guy from putting himself and others in danger I am out of patience.

Other than that it was a real contrast to last Friday's ride when I bonked three miles from home. I wouldn't say I was riding as strong as normal, but it was nice to feel some vitality back in my legs.

You make it sound like the grease you chose is ill suited to low temperatures. Have you tried anything like squirting some into a little cup and see how it is when you leave it out overnight? Does it turn from buttercream into icing into candy? Relying on the warmth of your hands to bring it up to lower viscosity seems unreliable.

May ride tomorrow, may not. Weather is chancy. Rain was forecast tomorrow, now it isn't. We are in the clear off the south edge of a NE bound atmospheric river storm that is hammering Redding up to Washington. Here's a view from the GOES satellite
https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goe...OLOR&length=12
(though the storm will go away one day soon, this link to this amazing satellite should work for quite a while)